Commemorated on 17 July of the Carmelite
Calendar of SaintsThe calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as that saint's feast day...
are the
Martyrs of Compiegne. Terrye Newkirk writes in
"The Martyrs of Compiègne as Prophets of Modern Age":
On 17 July, 1794, in the closing days of the Reign of TerrorThe Reign of Terror , also known as the The Terror was a period of violence that occurred four years and two months after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the...
led by Robespierre, sixteen Carmelite nuns of the Catholic Church were guillotined at the Barrière de Vincennes (nowadays Place de la Nation) in Paris.
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Commemorated on 17 July of the Carmelite
Calendar of SaintsThe calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as that saint's feast day...
are the
Martyrs of Compiegne. Terrye Newkirk writes in
"The Martyrs of Compiègne as Prophets of Modern Age":
On 17 July, 1794, in the closing days of the Reign of TerrorThe Reign of Terror , also known as the The Terror was a period of violence that occurred four years and two months after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the...
led by Robespierre, sixteen Carmelite nuns of the Catholic Church were guillotined at the Barrière de Vincennes (nowadays Place de la Nation) in Paris. They were buried in a common grave at the Picpus CemeteryThe Picpus Cemetery is the largest private cemetery in the city of Paris, France. It was created from land seized from the convent of the Chanoinesses de St-Augustin, during the Revolution.- Location :...
, where a single cross today marks the remains of the 1,306 victims of the guillotine. A mere handful of the French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
's victims. They have commanded the attention of historians, hagiographers, authors, playwrights, composers, and librettists for two hundred years. In our century the Martyrs of Compiègne have been the subject of a massive scholarly history, a German novella, a French play, a film, and Francis PoulencFrancis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les Six. He composed music in all major genres, including art song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
's opera Dialogues of the CarmelitesThe Dialogues of the Carmelites , is an opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. In 1953, M. Valcarenghi approached Poulenc to commission a ballet for La Scala in Milan; when Poulenc found the proposed subject uninspiring, Valcarenghi suggested instead the screenplay by Georges Bernanos, based on...
. In 1902, Pope Leo XIIIPope Leo XIII , born Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 257th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903, succeeding Pope Pius IX. Reigning until the age of 93, he was the oldest pope, and had the third longest pontificate, behind Pius IX and John Paul II...
declared the nuns Venerable, the first step toward canonization. They were later beatified by Pius X in May, 1906: Carmelites celebrate the memory of the prioress, Blessed Teresa of St. Augustine (Lidoine), and her fifteen companions on July 17, and Catholics may adopt them as patrons. The bicentenary of their death was observed in 1994; many are petitioning for their canonization.
The martyrs consisted of fourteen nuns and lay sisters, and two servants:
Nuns
- Anne-Marie-Madeleine Thouret (Sister Charlotte de la Resurrection)
- Anne Petras (Sister Marie-Henriette de la Providence)
- Marie-Geneviève Meunier
Blessed Marie-Geneviève Meunier , also known as Sister Constance, was a Carmelite novice and one of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne. She took the religious habit on 16 December 1788. She mounted the platform singing Laudate Dominum before being guillotined in Paris.Marie-Geneviève was beatified...
(Sister Constance) (novice)
- Rose-Chrétien de la Neuville
Blessed Rose-Chrétien de la Neuville was a French Carmelite nun and one of the Martyrs of Compiègne. She married young but was widowed. She was professed as a nun in 1777, taking the name Sister Julie Louise of Jesus and sang in the convent choir...
(Sister Julie Louise de Jesus)
- Marie-Claude Cyprienne (Sister Euphrasie de l'Immaculee Concepcion)
- Madeleine-Claudine Ledoine (Mother Thérèse de Saint-Augustine) (prioress)
- Marie-Anne Brideau (Mother St. Louis) (sub-prioress)
- Marie-Anne Piedcourt (Sister de Jesus Crucifie)
- Marie-Antoniette Hanisset (Sister Thérèse de la Saint-Coeur-de-Marie)
- Marie-Françoise Gabrielle de Croissy (Mother Henriette de Jesus) (former prioress)
- Marie-Gabrielle Trézel (Sister Thérèse de Saint-Ignace)
Lay Sisters
- Marie Dufour (Sister Sainte-Marthe)
- Angélique Roussel (Sister Marie de le Saint Esprit)
- Julie Vérolot (Sister Saint-Francois-Xavier)
Servants
- Catherine Soiron
- Thérèse Soiron
See also
- Discalced Carmelites
The Discalced Carmelites, or Barefoot Carmelites, is a Catholic mendicant order with roots in the eremitic tradition of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. The order was established in 1593, pursuant to the reform of the Carmelite Order by two Spanish saints, St. Teresa of Ávila and St...
- Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites
The Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites , formerly known as the Third Secular Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and of the Holy Mother Saint Teresa of Jesus, is an association of the Roman Catholic laity who are an integral part of the Discalced Carmelite Order, and are in...
- Carmelite Rule of St. Albert
The eremitic Rule of St. Albert is the shortest of the rules of consecrated life in existence in the Roman Catholic spiritual tradition. St. Albert Avogadro, a priest of the Canons Regular and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, wrote the Rule in the early 13th century. The Rule is directed to Brother...
- Constitutions of the Carmelite Order
The stand as an expression of the ideals and spirit of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.Foundational sources for the Constitutions include the desert hermit vocation as exemplified in the life of the Prophet Elijah. For the Carmelite the contemplative vocation is exemplified par excellence...
- Book of the First Monks
The Book of the First Monks is a medieval Christian work in the contemplative and eremetic tradition of the Carmelites.Carmelite tradition holds that it was Elijah who inspired the early hermits who settled near the spring on Mount Carmel...
- Christian martyrs
A Christian martyr is one who is killed for following Christianity, through stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake or other forms of torture and capital punishment. The word "martyr" comes from the Greek word which means "witness."...
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